Complicated
by The Cracking Mask
Summary: She glanced at the security camera- With that glance she had set into motion a chain of events that could end in her own destruction and the destruction of all that she holds dear. TIVA
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first fanfiction so please be nice and remember to review if you enjoyed it or have any constructive critisim, unsure yet as to where this story is going or if i am going to continue it so please let me know what you think :D **

** Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any of the characters (unfortunatly) :p**

Her chest tightened and her stomach knotted as she crept along the corridor. She turned and nodded and after a moment Gibbs nodded back, she glanced at the security camera: knowing that _he _could see her. That was the signal- it had started. With that glance she had set into motion a chain of events that could end in her own destruction and the destruction of all that she holds dear.

In her blissful ignorance she continued with the plan, doing the moves that she had rehearsed, learnt by heart and perfected. She kicked the door and it flung open. She ran through holding her gun and flash light high, quickly surveyed the room then ran to the door at the other end. Adrenaline made her blood pound in her ears but she- without needing to hear it- knew that Gibbs was still following closely behind her. In the third room they reached they finally found what they sought.

A naked woman lay on the ground in the far corner of the room, her wrists were tied together behind her head and a rope was tied to both of her ankles and looped around her neck. The rope was pulled tight so that her legs were completely bent and her head was pulled back as far as it would go. It was the perfect murder weapon, so cruel; it would force her to be the cause of her own death. Petty Officer McGriffith, her kidnapper, knew that eventually she would either become so uncomfortable that she would straighten her legs and strangle herself or live like this would become so unbearable that she would straighten her legs to end it herself.

Ziva felt her stomach tighten and sick rise into her throat at the horror of what she saw but then she hardened herself to it- went on autopilot so she didn't have to deal with her emotions. She'd lived that way for years, like a robot but moving to Washington and meeting Abby, Gibbs, Ducky, Magee and... Tony had changed that; brought her back to live but as nice as it felt to feel it also made it harder to deal with situations like this.

An hour an half later- crime scene searched, victim questioned and suspect interrogated- Gibbs had disappeared, leaving her with the woman who had steadily became more and more hysterical. It was pitch black, about midnight she guessed, red and blue lights were flashing everywhere and police tape had been plastered to every surface, pole and tree. Her head was throbbing and her bed at home had been calling to her getting steadily louder so she was unbelievably grateful when ten minutes later Gibbs arrived with a cup of coffee for himself, a cup of tea for her and an order to go home and get some sleep.

She drove home still on autopilot, walked up the path, let herself in, got ready for bed and crawled beneath the sheets before she allowed herself to feel again- then she broke down. Sobs shook her whole body and soaked her cheeks, her hair and her pillow. She'd always been strong, she was everyone's rock- their ninja but she couldn't be all the time. No one had ever seen this side of her, the soft side that couldn't bear to see people suffer- the side that had almost been extinguished when she worked for Mossad but had been brought back by her friends- her family- in DC. She sobbed until she became so exhausted that her body just shut down and she fell asleep.

She awoke with a start when her mobile phone, which she had left beside her bed, blared. She made to sit up but lay right back down when her headache gave a throb of protest. It was still dark, she checked the time- only 2:30. Her stomach knotted. Why would someone be calling her at this time? She grabbed her phone and pressed it to her ear. "Hello?" she croaked.

"Ziva." It was Gibbs, he sounded worried.

"What is it Gibbs?" she was wide awake now.

"You need to get here asap, there's been a..."

"I'm on my way, where are you?" Ziva dragged herself out of bed and began to get ready to leave while Gibbs rhymed off the address but then her heart stopped and she froze, "Gibbs, that is Tony's address,"

"yeah," was all Gibbs said before he hung up leaving a very confused Ziva to finish changing, hastily tie back her hair and grab her weapon from beneath her sheets where she had left it then she quickly left while trying to control the churning in her gut. _She had a bad feeling about this._

**Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed it! Please review and let me know if you think i should continue it :D xx**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to Robern and Daxam1216 for the reviews! Everyone please let me know what you think and review! I'm working on the next chapter now so it shouldn't take too long *fingers crossed* Thanks :D**

Ziva parked her car between two squad cars outside Tony's house, took a deep breath to calm her nerves and got out. There were a few other police cars parked along the street and a frantic neighbour trying to duck under the police tape. Every now and then another neighbour would emerge from their house and add to the din. Ziva glanced around. There was Gibbs' car and McGee's car parked next to each other a couple of spaces down from hers and Tony's was parked in his usual spot in the driveway. Ziva made her way to the police tape were she flashed her badge and shouted over the hysterical neighbour, "Ziva David, NCIS!" She ducked under the tape and jogged through the front door into the house. The door led straight into the living room. It wasn't as crowded in here; a group of forensic investigators were huddled in one corner but other than that the room was empty. She walked carefully through the room- so she didn't disturb any possible evidence- and into the kitchen where McGee was there making coffee. "McGee, what is going on?"

"Tony's gone missing; he called Gibbs to say he arrested McMilligan earlier but they never showed up, Tony never came home either and he's not answering his cell." At his words Ziva had to fight to keep the sick feeling in her stomach at bay. She knew it as soon as Gibbs had called her but she hadn't wanted to believe it, she had hoped that it was anything else. Panic rose from her stomach and threatened to engulf her but she drew in a deep breath and pushed it back down, trying to clear her mind. A thousand questions raced through her head and tried to spill out of her mouth at the same time but she eventually settled on the easiest one.

"Why are you making coffee then?"

"The director won't let us take the case,"

"That's bull-!" she stopped short and rephrased what she was going to say, "so we have to sit here and wait?" she said in a false calm voice.

"Pretty much," said McGee as he finished making the tea and pushed a cup into her hands. She leant against the counter and took a mouthful of her tea. She didn't really want it but it gave her something to do with her hands. They stood in silence for a few moments until it became almost unbearable.

"Where is Gibbs?" Ziva finally asked.

"He's in the bedroom, I think." Said McGee, he began to say something else but stopped when Ziva put down her cup next to the sink and walked out through the door. He sighed; this was going to be a long night.

"Gibbs," said Ziva as she walked through the bedroom door. Her boss was on his hands and knees on the floor with his head turned to the side so he could see under the bed. "Are we really going to do _nothing_?"

"Nope,"

She nodded then thought about it, "Wait... we're not going to do nothing... so we are going to do something then?"

"Yep," said Gibbs smirking. She knew that smirk; it meant they weren't allowed to do something but they were going to anyway. She smiled as Gibbs walked out of the bedroom. At least that was one less thing she had to worry about.

They had to stay at Tony's apartment for most of the night- and morning for that matter- while they were interviewed about their case and the last time they saw Tony and what he was doing, but at five they let them go home.

It was only two hours until they were due to start work so Ziva didn't even attempt sleep instead opting for a shower. She stayed in the shower a little longer than usual, trying in vain to wash away the events of the previous night as if shampooing her hair an extra time would bring Tony back or using her special shower gel would catch the killer but eventually she got out, changed her outfit, brushed her teeth and combed her hair. For something to do she made her bed and tidied her bedroom a little before going downstairs and making herself breakfast and washing and putting away her dishes. She still managed to arrive at work before everyone else so to give her hands something to do she cleaned her gun. Tony was usually the next to arrive and he usually brought her a cup of tea but since he wasn't coming in she had to wait until just before seven for McGee to arrive. She was very grateful that he had taken into account Tony's absence and brought her some tea. He was followed shortly by Gibbs who didn't even stop to say good morning before he passed them to go to Abby's lab. Ziva and McGee looked at each other unsure as to whether or not they should follow him. "C'mon then," said Gibbs not looking round at them and they hastily followed.

"Jethro, I got your email, would you care to enlighten us as to what has happened to young Anthony?" said Ducky from inside Abby's lab. Palmer was standing beside him talking to a very concerned looking Abby.

"Gibbs!" yelled Abby when she saw him, she ran to him and hugged him before hugging McGee and Ziva as well. "What happened to DiNozzo?"

"We don't know yet Abs- but we're going to find out," said Gibbs handing the goth a Caf-Pow. "I need you to pull DiNozzo's phone records,"

"Would anyone care to enlighten me as to what is going on?" asked Ducky as Abby ran to her computer.

"Tony went undercover for the McMilligan case and..." started Gibbs

"The McMilligan case?" asked Palmer, who was listening in, "is that the one with the marine killing the young women with a rope?"

"Yes," said McGee then he took over from Gibbs telling the story, "Tony went undercover on the same ship as McMilligan and we had just found enough evidence to convict him so we gave Tony orders to arrest him, he rang to say he had him and was on his way back. He hasn't been heard from since and he isn't answering his cell." Abby, Ducky and Palmer listened intently to the story and not knowing how to respond just stood in silence afterwards.

Ziva broke the silence, "The director won't let us work the case," she told them and looks of dismay and horror crossed their faces.

"But you're going to do it anyway?" asked Abby, "right?" she looked hopefully at Gibbs.

"'Course Abs, I need you to re-examine all the evidence and Ducky make sure you haven't missed _anything_, Ziva go back to yesterdays crime scene and look for evidence before anyone else gets there, take McGee with you,"

**Thank you for reading! Please review on the way out!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed and offered their help, I really appreciate it. I hope you enjoy this chapter! I'll get the next one up asap. Please review! :D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or any of the characters (except Petty Officer McMilligan- he's mine :p) **

_**12 hours ago**_

He watched the screen, slightly impatiently, awaiting the signal; he'd been waiting in that same tiny little room for about four hours, he'd even resorted to amusing himself by playing 'snake' on his phone. He sighed; they really were taking their time. He saw them walk into view and as he closed his game he sat up a little straighter and his back gave a creak of protest. Then he saw Ziva glance at the camera and his sore back forgotten he shut down the program he was using- if he was caught he could get arrested for hacking CCTV- and leapt from his seat, stopped to do a small dance of joy and quickly jogging out the door and down the narrow hallway of the ship. He had been worried near the end there. The ship was leaving port in half an hour and if he hadn't got the signal before then he would have to stay undercover for at least another week until the ship docked again.

He made his way quickly to the small control room where he knew McMilligan would be. He was there alone sitting at a desk with his feet up in a way similar to the way Tony was sitting a few moments earlier. "NCIS, you're under arrest," Tony shouted as he ran towards the marine. McMilligan stood up faster than Tony thought possible and ran through a door at the other end of the control room. _Of course _thought Tony. They never want to come easily. He sighed then pulling his gun from the holster he began to run after the man.

McMilligan was a marine and although Tony was an NCIS agent he lived on takeaways and spent all his spare time watching movies so it was easy to tell who the faster runner was, however, Tony, spurred on by adrenaline and his longing to get off this boat, was never too far behind. Tony chased him through the next room and down another narrow hallway. The hallway was lined with doors which led to tiny rooms with two tiny bunks for the marines but every fifth door led to a small store room. McMilligan threw open one of these doors and ran inside. Tony followed McMilligan through it. He was feeling rather smug then because he knew that McMilligan would be trapped and forced to surrender.

McMilligan turned when he saw the back of the store room and snarled. Tony laughed as he pulled out his handcuffs with the hand that wasn't holding his gun. He put his gun back in his holster then cuffed McMilligan's hands together. Tony held the man's cuffed hands in one hand and took his cell phone from his pocket and phoned Gibbs with the other. "Hey boss," said Tony once Gibbs had answered, "I got him, I'm on my way out now," he didn't wait for an answer before he hung up then, smiling at his victory, he turned around to lead McMilligan back out of the store.

That was the last thing Tony knew until he awoke four hours later in that same store room. _Bastard _he thought when he realised what had happened. McMilligan had hit him- hard. He slowly stood up. Other than a low throb in his head he felt fine- No broken bones or sprains or anything. He walked to the door and wiggled the handle. Locked. He glanced around for some alternative exit. There was a vent in the top corner but there was no way he would fit in there. He smirked, perhaps if McMilligan forgot to feed him for a month he could maybe squeeze in.

He reached up and tentatively touched his forehead where McMilligan had hit him. It was wet; blood. Luckily he was in a cleaning supplies store so he easily found a cloth to press to his head until the blood stopped.

Tony sat down on the ground and closed his eyes for a second. He had had plans tonight; A _gorgeous _blonde. He'd just have to call her when he got home and tell her that he'd got hung up at work, she wouldn't believe him but she'd agree to meet him anyway. She wasn't after a long-term relationship. He smiled then frowned when he thought of what he would be doing now were he not stuck in a store. Then he thought of Ziva. She would be worried about him when he didn't turn up for work in the morning, although she wouldn't show anyone. She never showed anyone what she was really feeling. Now that he'd started thinking about her he didn't want to stop; so, gorgeous blonde forgotten, he leant back against the shelves behind him- not noticing that they dug into his back- and thought of the beautiful Israeli. This was only the second time he'd thought about her today. The first lasted from when he had woken up until he had been knocked unconscious by the marine. The second would last until the next time he went back to sleep. When he first met Ziva he hadn't liked her because she took over from Kate and even sat at her desk, then after a while he began to like her… and then love her but at the same time he hated her for making him love her. He closed his eyes. It wasn't fair. He hated stupid rule number 12 and he hated that she didn't feel the same way about him. He would even break Gibbs' stupid rule if he thought that he could have a chance with Ziva. He sighed and stood up.

He glanced out through the small square window in the door; it didn't show him very much other than that there was no one in the hallway. He wished he knew what time it was so he could know whether or not he would just be wasting his energy by knocking on the walls between his store and the bunk room next door. He checked his pockets for his phone but it was gone and so was his gun. He cursed under his breath as he felt panic rising in him. He wanted to stay calm and not bang on the door and yell and scream like a maniac but that took a lot of self control which he just didn't have.

He banged on the door and screamed until he was exhausted and his throat was raw but still no one answered so he lay down in defeat. This was like the 1973 movie 'Trapped' with James Brolin and Susan Clark except this was the wrong type of store and there was no Dobermans or is that Dobermen? Ah well, scary dogs anyway. It was with such thoughts that he let the sleep, which had been threatening for a while now, engulf him.

Petty Officer McMilligan paced backwards and forwards in his tiny bunk room; he sighed, sat down then stood back up and resumed his pacing. _This was bad. _He ran his hand through his hair. _It was _his_ type who'd done this to him! He should just kill him! _No, he should let him go; it might not have been him. He sat down again on the edge of his bed and steadied his shaking hands by pressing them between his legs. He had to think it through properly before he acted. NCIS had come here four months ago: two teams from DC, the first team had questioned him and took his fingerprints to help with a kidnapping case: A Seattle woman had gone missing. That was the team that this man was from. The second team arrived an hour or so after and rummaged through all his things, then took finger prints, hair samples and saliva samples: To help with the same case. Next thing he knew his hair and fingerprints were found at a crime scene and he was being investigated.

He hadn't meant to hurt that man earlier but he'd just panicked. They would have locked him up and not even listened to him when he told them the truth. He should go back and try to get the truth out of the man in the store cupboard. He knew he'd get in trouble for assaulting a police officer but maybe they'd cut him a deal.

Tony was awoken again a few hours later when he heard the door to his store being unlocked. He automatically reached for his gun then remembered that he didn't have it so he jumped up of the ground- ready to fight if he needed to.

It was McMilligan. Tony jumped to defence but once he got a good look at McMilligan it was easy to see that he was not a threat. His hair was ruffled; like he'd run his hands through it many times and the sides and front were plastered to his face by sweat. His cheeks were also tear stained and pale.

McMilligan shut the door and locked it before turning around to face Tony. They stood in silence; eyeing each other up for several moments until eventually McMilligan spoke, "I didn't kill those women, I was framed- by an NCIS agent." he said. Tony was about to retort when he saw the sincerity in his eyes.

"Then give me back my phone and I'll ask my boss to re-examine the evidence." It was a long shot but if McMilligan really was innocent then maybe he would co-operate. However, this didn't have the desired effect.

The marine suddenly flew into a violent rage. He pushed Tony with both of his hands against his chest and sent him flying back into the shelves at the back of the store. Tony fell to the ground and three of the five shelves fell on top of him. Before he could properly register what had happened Petty Officer McMilligan was on top of him dragging him back up. "It was probably you," he snarled into Tony's neck, "or you were in on it- you all were, you are all the same: Corrupted _demons." _He was shouting now. This was bound to get someone's attention but still no one came.

Tony struggled to get out of his grasp but McMilligan just held tighter, snarling down at Tony. "I had nothing to do with it," Tony gasped, "I swear." He felt McMilligan pause for a moment and his grip loosen but only for a moment then he lifted Tony up farther so he could look him in the eyes. "Liar!" he shouted before dropping Tony and hitting him repeatedly in the stomach, the chest, the face and any other piece of him that he could reach. Tony tried to fight back but McMilligan was a big man and he had a whole lot of rage. His world began to close in and the edges of his vision went dark but he fought to stay awake for as long as he could, knowing that as soon as he was unconscious he had no control over what happened to him but eventually McMilligan gave one final blow to his head and Tony was cast into oblivion.

**Thank you for reading! I really hope you enjoyed it. Please review xx**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry it took so long! I've been quite busy recently and a bit lazy aswell *guilty face* **

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or any of the characters, wish i did :)**

Ziva awoke with a start. _What was that? _Her hand automatically flew to her gun which was tucked in the bed beside her. She pushed back her quilt and flung her legs over the edge of the bed. She was about to rush into the hall shouting and wailing like a maniac but then the logical part of her brain kicked in and she paused at her door for a second and pressed her ear to it. She heard a floorboard creak; she knew that that meant they were in the dining room heading towards the back door. _There was someone in her house. _She silently pushed her door open and made her way slowly down the hall until suddenly she heard a loud crash and a muffled, "Shit,"- She couldn't tell whether the voice had been a man's or a woman's- coming from downstairs, at that her 'ninja' kicked in and she silently ran down the stairs, taking them two at a time, with her gun held out in front of her.

She made her way to through the dining room, there was no one there anymore but she saw that the plant pot by the door had been knocked over; that must have been what made the bang. Other than that nothing seemed to be out of place. She noticed this in less than a second then headed through the door at the other end of the dining room into the kitchen. She made it through the door just in time to see a dark figure disappear through the back door. "Hey!" she shouted as she ran after them, "Stop, NCIS" what a stupid thing to say, she thought to herself. As if they were going to stop just because she told them to.

She chased them around the row of houses in which she lived but back at the front of her house they leapt into a car which had been parked crookedly across her garden. She noticed that her bin had been knocked over and sighed; she was going to have to clean that up too. She contemplated getting into her own car and chasing them that way but being outside in the chilly breeze had reminded her that she was only wearing a pair of shorts and a long t-shirt so she ran after the car a few paces and memorised the number plate. _CHZ 4073. _Then she went back inside and phoned Gibbs. "Gibbs," said Ziva, when he picked up the phone.

"_What is it Ziver?" _He was worried, why would she call him at this time in the morning if there wasn't something wrong.

"Gibbs, there was someone in my house…" She didn't have to say anything else; Gibbs was already grabbing his coat and making his way out of his basement.

Ziva put down the phone and shivered although it was now more out of fear than coldness. She had to deal with this type of stuff all the time but it just didn't happen to her. She saw those crime scenes in which people had broken into woman's houses- single women who live alone… she shivered again and then, deciding that there was no way she'd get back to sleep, got washed and dressed then headed downstairs just on time to open the door to Gibbs.

Within ten minutes the 'other' NCIS team- The one director Vance had gave the case to-had arrived and started to analyse the scene whilst Gibbs drank coffee from her 'I love DC' mug and did anything, it seemed, to get in their way. McGee had also arrived and now for lack of anything better to do, they both sat on her sofa. McGee was leaning back with his legs crossed and the TV controller in his hands, flipping between channels. Ziva was sitting at the other end of the sofa with her feet curled up underneath her and her head rested against the back of the sofa, her mind working a mile a minute. It couldn't have been a coincidence that someone had kidnapped Dinozzo and broke into her house within two days. Was it McMilligan? If so, why kidnap Tony? She could understand why he'd come after her, she was a young woman who lived alone- just like the rest of his victims- but why Tony? And how could it have been McMilligan? His ship had left already… perhaps he had gotten of it, was Tony with him? Or maybe it had just been a coincidence that her house had been broken in to after all. She closed her eyes; her head hurt and was worried about Tony.

The next time she opened them it was beginning to get light outside. McGee was still sitting where he had been before but now is mouth was hanging open and he was slightly snoring. 'The Jerry Springer Show' had come on TV and she glanced at it in time to see a woman in a wedding dress chasing some poor man around the room. She stood up and turned off the TV then went to search for Gibbs.

She found him in the kitchen drinking yet another cup of coffee and she tried to decide what to say to him as she made herself a cup of tea. "Gibbs," she started, "Do you think this has anything to do with Tony going missing?"

"Yes," He answered simply

"But how could it be McMilligan, his ship has left, yes?"

Gibbs shrugged then moving coser to her said, "The ship never left port yesterday,"

Ziva's heart gave a lurch, "The ship never left port? So Tony may still be in DC?" she asked almost franticly.

"But if it _was_ McMilligan in you house tonight then they might not be on that ship anymore." Said Gibbs, "Vance is having the ship searched this afternoon,"

Ziva raised both her eyebrows, "This afternoon?" She almost yelled, "Tony could be-" She almost said _dead by then _but her voice caught in her throat_. _

The next afternoon they had nothing to do, or rather weren't allowed to do anything so they sat at their desks and 'done paperwork' in other words they sat at their separate desks, McGee playing games on his computer or making paper aeroplanes whilst Ziva tried to read her book. She groaned in frustration and put her book down on her desk. She couldn't concentrate, McGee was becoming increasingly irritating and she was too busy worrying about Tony to concentrate, she must have read the same paragraph about four times and still had no idea what it said.

She spent the next two and a half hours thinking about Tony. She was worried about him and she wasn't allowed to do anything to help him. She didn't even know if there was anything _anyone _could do to help him. She didn't like to admit it, not even to herself, but she loved him. She really did. She hadn't felt this way about anyone since she was a teenager. Whenever she was with Tony she would find herself staring at him and making excuses to talk to him; she even watched some of the crap movies he suggested so they'd have something else in common to talk about. She would grin and sometimes even giggle when she received a text or email from him. Of course she could never tell him or anyone. Tony loved women, lots of women and she didn't know if she could trust him to be faithful to her if they ever ended up together, that scared her but the thought that she had dropped her barriers and let someone else in after being hurt so many times before.

A while later McGee was lying back in his chair softly sleeping and Ziva had her head rested on her left arm which was draped across her desk while she doodled on her note pad. Suddenly the lift doors which led into the squad room opened with a beep and Gibbs stepped out… followed by two of the agents from the other team with a battered Anthony Dinozzo held between them.

**Thanks for reading :D Please review xx**


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